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"FDA Reviewing Decision on Safety of BPA"

"The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing its conclusion from last year that a much-debated chemical used in baby bottles and food containers is safe for infants.

The news came just hours after two influential Democrats sent a letter Tuesday questioning that decision to new FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. She has pledged to restore confidence in the agency by putting science first in its decision-making process.

The FDA ruled last year that trace amounts of bisphenol-A, or BPA, that leach out of bottles and food packaging are not dangerous. But the agency's own advisers faulted the report for relying on a small number of industry-sponsored studies. And consumer advocates said it ignored dozens of animal studies suggesting the chemical can interfere with infant hormone levels. ...

In the letter to Hamburg, Reps. Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak questioned whether the agency's decision on BPA's safety, made under the Bush administration, may have been influenced by companies."